Church Of The Holy Trinity

CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY

Parish church. The building represents two main phases of development: the original church of 1844 by Patterson & Hind of Nottingham, built at a cost of £1000, now forms the south aisle; the nave and chancel were rebuilt in 1904, and the east wall was replaced in 1958. The design blends Norman and Early English styles.

The exterior is constructed of coursed squared rock-faced sandstone and sandstone ashlar, with Welsh slate roofs and stone coped gables featuring moulded kneelers. The church plan consists of a nave and chancel in one continuous space, with a west narthex, south aisle, south-west porch, and south vestry.

The west narthex spans the full width of the nave and is set between flying buttresses. At its centre is a gabled entrance bay with a doorway of three chamfered orders, fitted with twentieth-century glazed double doors. This bay is flanked by buttresses that turn into polygonal turrets topped by foliage finials. Beyond these stand pairs of trefoil-headed lancets. The section features an openwork parapet with round arches, outer buttresses that are gabled and panelled. The large tripartite west window comprises three stepped lancets with tracery of bold quatrefoil motifs and blind quatrefoils flanking the taller central lancet, with cherub heads set into the design. The window sits within a blind super arch forming a kind of plate tracery, with a hoodmould and carved stops. Above are three stepped louvred lancet slits.

The north side has a narrow lean-to aisle of four bays divided by pilaster buttresses, with plainly chamfered lancets—two to each bay of the aisle and groups of three in the clerestory above. The south side has triplets of clerestory lancets matching the north.

The large gabled south aisle, forming the nave of the earlier church, is in Neo-Norman style. A gabled bellcote with a chamfered round arch sits on the west gable. The gabled west porch has a round-arched doorway of two chamfered orders to the south and a chamfered round-arched window to the west. A tall round-arched window of two chamfered orders with hoodmould rises above. Pairs of blind chamfered round-arched windows flank each side. A lean-to bay between the porch and the early twentieth-century nave contains one chamfered round-arched window to the west. The south side displays a continuous chamfered sill band and four bays, each with a recessed panel divided by stop-chamfered pilaster buttresses. Each bay has a chamfered round-arched lancet. Rounded corbels run along the top of each panel. The gabled south vestry has a blind round arch to the west and a chamfered round-arched window to the south.

The east end of the former chancel features a broad round-arched window with roll moulding on colonettes with volute capitals. The tracery comprises bald plate tracery of three chamfered round-arched lights with a circle above pierced by a small circle surrounded by a ring of small circles. The main east wall, built in 1958, replaced a temporary wall. It includes a circular east window with tracery of three ovals.

Interior: The porch of the old church contains an inner round-arched doorway with roll moulding and one order of colonettes with volute capitals. The old church has a round-arched chancel arch of two chamfered orders. The two naves are divided by two broad double-chamfered pointed arches on low circular piers with roll-moulded polygonal capitals and demi responds. The north arcade has four similar bays. The piers are banded in contrasting coloured stone. A three-bay west arcade follows a similar style but in smaller proportions. The chancel arch is chamfered and moulded on semi-circular responds with capitals bearing naturalistic foliage.

Many chancel furnishings date from the 1960s and were made by Frank Knight of Wellingborough. A brass eagle lectern is dated 1904. The square neo-Norman font sits on a base of five shafts with colonettes in the cut-away angles of the bowl, bearing the inscription "In Nomine / Patris / et filis / Spiritus Sancti". Stained glass in two south windows dates from the early 1930s and was made by Abbott & Co. of Lancaster. A brass memorial tablet to Joseph Paget (died 1896) was made by Benham & Froud of London. Another tablet commemorates Rev. John Cargill (died 1876) and was made by Cox & Sons of London. The roofs are plain. The Royal Arms above the west arcade, in cast metal, were restored in 1966.